President pledges to cooperate with whoever wins polls: I am not a trouble maker: Musharraf

* President says he will keep close relationship with army as civilian president
* Iftikhar wanted to remove him ‘illegally’

ISLAMABAD/SIALKOT: President Pervez Musharraf pledged on Tuesday to cooperate with whoever wins January’s crucial general elections, saying that he was not a “trouble creator”, AFP reported.

Opposition leaders and former premiers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif have accused Musharraf of wanting to rig the polls in favour of parties that back him, although both have declined to boycott the elections.

But Musharraf told Al-Jazeera’s English channel that he was willing to work with the victors of the January 8 polls.

“I will try to work with anyone who comes to power after the elections,” Musharraf said in an interview broadcast on Tuesday. “I interact with people quite well, I am not such a trouble creator.”

Although both Benazir and Nawaz are currently barred from serving a third term in office, neither has shown much inclination to let their parties cooperate with him after the elections.

After flying back to Islamabad from Dubai, Benazir on Tuesday hailed Nawaz for agreeing not to boycott the election, saying that the presence of the country’s big two parties would force a fair poll.

“Nawaz Sharif has taken a correct decision that his party should participate in the election,” Benazir told reporters, following Nawaz’s announcement at the weekend that the PML-N would contest the polls.

“When the two big parties participate, the government will be compelled to hold fair elections. It will strengthen democracy,” she added.

Fears of a boycott that would draw global criticism of the vote had haunted Musharraf and his loyalist party, created in 2002 to contest elections under his banner after poaching most of its members from Nawaz.

Relationship with army: International pressure has already forced Musharraf to quit as army chief late last month, but he told the channel that as a civilian president he would keep a close relationship with the military.

“My relationship with army is not direct, obviously. There is protocol obviously, there is the chief of army staff,” he said.

“However 46 years of association does not get washed off, they will remember me, I will remember them for quite some time to come,” he said.

Iftikhar: Defending his action against the superior judiciary, Musharraf told the channel that former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry wanted to “remove him illegally”, according to a Daily Times monitor report.

He said if Chaudhry had been allowed “to have his way”, the judiciary would have landed the country into chaos.

Separately, while inaugurating the Sialkot International Airport, Musharraf said the elections would be free and fair, and would be held in time, according to a Daily Times report.

He said holding of the elections, maintaining economic upsurge and countering terrorism were the three major issues confronting the country.

The president said there was a vital need to maintain the economic upsurge to ensure that its gains continued to reach the lowest tiers of society.

Calling terrorism a ‘cancer’, he said it had to be defeated at all costs, otherwise it could seriously damage the country.

Musharraf also expressed concern over the escalating prices of wheat, and said wheat was smuggled to neighbouring countries because of its cheaper price in Pakistan.

He said there was a need to encourage farmers to sell it locally, and to discourage wheat smuggling.

He said the government would subsidise its sale through the Utility Stores Corporation (USC), adding that the USC was increasing the number of utility stores and that in the next four months every union council would have one utility store. afp/staff report

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Aarwaa

Pakistan is ruled by three As - Army, America and Allah.